Fragment
by freedomfighter4
Summary: Sally has a headache


Fragment

I've been busy and had a case of writer's block like nobodies business. Anyway this little snippet of a story sort of leaked its way out of me this morning. Probably to be a scrap later.

Sally has a headache. I don't own Sonic, Sally, or Bunnie. They belong to Sega and Dic.

Pain was an odd sort of thing. A shifting, fluid discomfort that seemed at times to sleep dormant within the petite Princess, waiting for the most inappratune moments in which to strike. She had been aware of the slight throb between her ears as she sat pouring over schematics. The throb had slipped like a large lead rock lower into her forehead as she jotted notes, biting at her lip, determined not to stop, wanting to get her ideas down before they faded, before they were eroded by the flood that was fast approaching. She knew the signs, the dull throb that made her ears twitch, then the heavy pulsing hot stone in her forehead. By the time Sally stumbled out her front door the world had become a horrid explosion of painful light, her stress headache once more a searing migraine. She gritted her teeth as she walked, following the path toward the grotto where she was expected for watch duty. She passed Bunnie on her way down the gently slopping hill and she smiled, pausing to speak to the rabbit who seemed oblivious to Sally's condition. There was no reason she wouldn't be. Sally was an excellent actress. To her friend she looked perfectly fine, perhaps a little sleepy, but that was far from uncommon anyway. The conversation ended and the Princess shuffled on, stopping a few feet away from the place where the wooded area opened into the bank of the little pool, resting heavily on a tree trunk. Sonic's watch had been before her own and she took several deep breaths, nausea tugging insistently at her stomach. She practiced her smile and forced her eyes to open a little wider, pulling her shoulders up into their proper position. When she felt she was ready she strode out and into his line of sight.

"Ready to get out of here Sonic?" She asked, sounding as cheerful as was possible. Sonic looked up at her, his head cocking in interest, the tilt changing quickly from one of mild question to moderate concern. He knew. Somehow in two seconds of interaction, he knew.

"Ya okay Sal?" His voice was hushed, soft, making it clear he already knew not only the answer to the question but exactly what was wrong with her.

"I'm fine." She lied, smiling a little wider.

"Gotta headache?"

"No . . . just a . . . a little one." She waved a dismissing hand, almost like she was shooing away an annoying fly. "Go on, I know you're dying to get out of here." Sonic sighed and stood, watching her as she took his seat on the fallen log. It hurt to move her eyes so she didn't watch as he moved away from her, out of her field of vision. She could hear him breathing though. He hadn't left. He wasn't going to leave. Her eyes slipped shut and she listened to the patter of water hitting water, like some strange concentrated rain storm. A minute later something cool and wet touched her forehead and her eyes opened a crack, the painful sun blotted out some by the peach and blue face that was hovering close to her own, his breath warm against her fur. He shook his head at her, making a sound somewhere between sympathy and irritation. He reach out with the hand that wasn't holding what could only be one of his gloves which he had slipped off and dipped into the water, pulling at her vest. Sally let him slid it off her shoulders, reaching up to hold the cool glove against her forehead as he folded it over a few times. She carefully maneuvered herself, inching off the log and onto the sun warmed grass beside it, sighing softly when Sonic draped the folded vest over her eyes, cloaking her in merciful darkness.

They sat in silence for a long time, Sally's head resting heavily on Sonic's leg, the only sensations in her world the strange bass drum that thundered inside her skull and his warm, bare fingers pressing and rubbing, trying to sooth away her pain. Slowly, so slowly the headache began to fade. Her stomach quieted and her thoughts cleared.

"Why do ya do that?" Sonic asked in a whisper, somehow sensing just as he had her pain, that she was feeling better.

"There's just so much to do . . . I just want to get everything . . ."

"No, lie to me. Why do ya lie ta me?"

"Oh. I . . . I don't want you to . . . to worry about me." Sonic's fingers paused in their movement and he chuckled softly.

"Yah realize how stupid that sounds?" He pressed lightly at her temple with his thumb, making tiny circles. "That's what we do ain't it? Worry about each other."

"You worry about me?" She asked, sounding touched.

"Don't play dumb. Ya know I do." She did know.

"I don't want you too." She responded after a long moment.

"Such a liar." He chided and she knew he was shaking his head. Sally thought for a moment, then sighed in defeat. He was right after all. His indifference would probably be the worst pain imaginable.

"I worry about you too." She told him though it was impossible to fathom he didn't know. Everyone knew that.

"Good. That's good." He seemed annoyed with her worries more often than not, but she knew him well enough to know that his disdain was more ego than anything else. When they were alone, as they were at that moment, he was more than willing to except her fears as a facet of her affection.

"How did you know I had a migraine?" Sally asked, pulling her vest away from her eyes, but not moving from her resting spot on his upper leg.

"I know ya Sal." He shrugged slightly, smiling down at her. "Ya slur your "s" sounds just a bit. Ya eyelids look heavy, like you're tired, but ya always slump a little when ya haven't had enough sleep. You stand real stiff and straight when ya have one of your headaches."

"Really? No one else seems to ever notice."

"Its hard ta notice. They just don't look atcha as hard as I do."

"That sounds sweet and perverse at the same time." She told him with a soft laugh.

"I said look at ya hard. Not I look at ya and get . . ." Sally slapped at his leg, pushing herself up off the ground, coming to sit down beside him on the log.

"Sicko." She grumbled with a good amount of humor, her headache all but forgotten.


End file.
